Dec 5, 2016 4 min read

Some who live near a Buffalo Township sportsmen’s club are dissatisfied with officials’ response to their complaints about late-night shooting there, as township officials and the club president deny it’s breached any local ordinances.

Attorney Thomas Lonich – who represents John and Pamela Thomas, neighbors of Golden Pheasant Sportsman Club – told township supervisors Wednesday he was submitting 16 formal complaints from residents concerning an ongoing dispute between residents and township officials about activity there.

“In looking at them, they are primarily complaints about the noise, increased activity and safety issues,” Lonich said later in an interview. He contended complaints residents have lodged are “enough to warrant some investigation of it to determine if there’s been any violation of the ordinances.”

Township officials have maintained the club hasn’t violated local ordinances, as did club President Raymond Brennan.

He wasn’t at the meeting, but reached Thursday he was confident the club – on a 15-acre property along Reese Road – operates safely.

“I have no reason why this is going on, to be honest with you,” he said. “It just started out of the blue, and this is where we’re at.”

Lonich attended a meeting Oct. 5 to argue it was unreasonble to allow activity at the club late at night. He said activity at the club appears to occur seven days a week and seems to have expanded recently. Lonich asked for a restriction on shooting past 10 p.m. and on the types of weapons used at the club, according to meeting minutes.

Township solicitor John Hofrichter said during a Nov. 2 meeting the township wouldn’t take further action on the club because there hadn’t been a violation at the range, minutes from that meeting say.

Brennan said most of the shooting at the club occurs Tuesday during trap shooting nights that are open to the public, between 5 or 5:30 and 11 p.m. He said 50 to 55 people typically attend.

“We try to quit shooting at 10:45,” Brennan said, adding it never continues past 11 p.m. He added that “some guys (who belong to the 30-member club) go out during the day and shoot their rifles” at its range.

Township officials have asked the club to show it was established before the township first established a noise ordinance, in 1984, which they argue makes it lawful to use the property for shooting.

Supervisors repealed that ordinance in 2013 and adopted a new one. The following year, supervisors approved an “Ordinance Protecting Shooting Ranges in Buffalo Township” that exempts ranges like Golden Pheasant’s from local noise limits until 11:15 p.m. Jack Levy, chairman of the board of supervisors, said at the time the move was intended to allow the club, which was incorporated in 1957, to keep operating the way it always had.

Levy, who is a member of the club, said Wednesday township officials had asked Golden Pheasant to provide information showing the club had existed prior to the adoption of the the 1984 noise ordinance.

Lonich said Wednesday in an exchange with Hofrichter the dispute wasn’t about when the club was started, and insited he wanted an inquiry into activity at the club.

“The response I got was, the township is no longer going to be involved because we don’t believe there was any ordinance violation. What I’ve asked for on behalf of my clients is an investigation to ascertain what is going on up there, because you’ve made representation – they’ve implemented this, they’ve implemented that. That certainly hasn’t been shared on this side of the table.”

The township solicitor countered that he had attempted to “facilitate communication.”

“It didn’t work, as far as I can tell,” Hofrichter said. “These are two citizens of the township that disagree. I can’t force either side, unless they’re violating the law, to do something.”

One township resident who attended the meeting questioned why problems only arose recently.

“There’s more than one resident that has a problem, so there must be some kind of change,” said Dawna Wise, who lives on McKee Road.

Levy didn’t think so.

“As many residents that have complained, we’ve had people tell us that it hasn’t changed,” Levy said during the meeting.

Brennan, who’s been part of the club since about 1970, said there is now less shooting at the club than previously, since the McGuffey outdoors club stopped using it to practice and it stopped holding Amateur Trap Association competitions there.

“We don’t do anything that we’re not allowed to do,” he said.